


Necessary Knowledge, Part I

by dance_the_code



Series: Conference Wives [8]
Category: Numb3rs
Genre: Guns, Learning how to use guns, M/M, seriously, this is about guns
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-05-23
Updated: 2008-09-29
Packaged: 2018-07-15 16:04:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 1,911
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7229242
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dance_the_code/pseuds/dance_the_code
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ian decides to train Charlie.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Conference Wives

Title: Necessary Knowledge, Part I  
Characters: Charlie/Ian, Don/Cooper  
Words: 434  
Disclaimer: If you recognize it, it’s not mine  
Summary: Ian decides to train Charlie.  
Note: Conference Wives

Don was startled from the comfortable slumber induced by Cooper’s presence next to him. He glanced at the clock as he dove for his cell phone as it vibrated off the bedside table.

“Eppes”

“Don, it’s Ian. I need you and Cooper to look after Isaac today.”

“Ian, it’s four in the morning – what’s going on?”

“I am taking Charlie to an outdoor range outside of LA.”

Don looked at the clock and physically checked that he was awake by pinching Cooper’s thigh, earning him a swift and satisfying slap to the ass. “Uh, Ian? Charlie is not overly fond of guns…”

“Don, I am well aware of this, however, I have decided it is utterly necessary for him to learn how to properly handle and fire all the guns in my arsenal, not only for his and Isaac’s safety and well being, but for my own peace of mind, due to his vulnerable nature.”

Don tried to imagine his brother’s exact response to this proposal. “And how exactly do you propose to convince Charlie of this?”

Ian was silent a moment and then responded. “You will come to the house with Cooper to look after Isaac, within the next hour and Charlie will be waking up on the range, where he will be apprised of the situation in a perfectly logical fashion.”

Don snorted. “So, you have no idea how you’re going to convince him to do it, but you’re hoping that the element of surprise and the unfamiliar location will rattle him enough to agree with you.”

“One hour, Don.” Ian hung up.

Don rolled over and nuzzled Cooper. “Coop, we have to get up.”

Cooper acquired Don around the middle. “Eppes, is someone dead?”

“No, but if we don’t get up our nephew will be likely left home alone as the sniper kidnaps my brother for shooting lessons.”

“Eppes, you’re not making sense, go back to sleep.” Cooper pressed a sleep-heavy kiss to Don’s forehead.

“I’m not kidding, Coop, but if you wake up right now, I’ll blow you in the shower.” Such incentives had been known to work in the past.

Cooper’s eyes snapped open and his arms snapped around Don’s waist as he hauled both himself and his Eppes out of bed. “Well, what are we waiting for then? Daylight’s a-wasting.”

Don shook his head. “Coop, set me down, there’s no way I can blow you from this angle without consulting Charlie first.”

Cooper paused on the threshold of the bathroom. “Now, that would be a consultation I wouldn’t mind sitting in on.”

Don blushed from hairline to toes.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ian decides to train Charlie.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Conference Wives

Title: Necessary Knowledge, Part II  
Characters: Charlie/Ian, Don/Cooper, Isaac  
Words: 327  
Disclaimer: If you recognize it, it’s not mine  
Summary: Ian decides to train Charlie.  
Note: Conference Wives  
Dedication: to Starfevre - who is too sweet for words

Don and Cooper pulled up to the craftsman with a few minutes to spare.

Ian opened the door for them. “Isaac has been apprised of the situation.”

Don quirked an eyebrow. “So, you briefed the commander in chief on the idea that you are kidnapping his daddy?”

Ian scowled. “I informed Isaac that you and Cooper are coming over for a play date and that I would be taking his father out for magic lessons.”

Cooper shook his head. “Did you feed the kid?”

“No, Cooper, he went back to sleep after our discussion. Now, if the two of you don’t mind I have to load the car.”

Cooper opened his mouth to say something, but Don opted to silence him. “Coop, he’s going to get an earful when Charlie wakes up on the range.”

Cooper shrugged. “If you say so, Eppes. I’m just not completely sure the kid’s going to be as cool with this as the SG thinks.”

Don leaned against him. “Yeah, well, we’ll take care of Isaac and hopefully Charlie can straighten Ian out. There has to be more to this than simple sniper paranoia.”

Cooper watched as Ian carried each gun case and then the sleeping mathematician out to the car.

“Eppes.”

“Yeah, Coop?”

“You don’t think he drugged your brother do you?”

Don looked out to where Ian was carefully seat-belting Charlie into the passenger seat. “No, Charlie’s not drugged. Ian might wish he had drugged Charlie when Charlie wakes up before he comes up with a logical explanation for what they are doing, but he’s not drugged. Ian wouldn’t do that to him after what Penfield did.”

Cooper nodded. “Okay. Well, I’ll go start on pancakes. You go hang out with the kid until he wakes up so you can remind him of the briefing he received from the SG.”

Don kissed Cooper again. “Make sure there are plenty for me too, okay?”

“Okay, Eppes, but you’re on syrup patrol.”


	3. Necessary Knowledge, Part III

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ian decides to train Charlie.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Conference Wives

Title: Necessary Knowledge, Part III  
Characters: Charlie/Ian  
Words: 629  
Disclaimer: If you recognize it, it’s not mine  
Summary: Ian decides to train Charlie.  
Note: Conference Wives  
Dedication: to Starfevre who is still too sweet for words

Waking up in a moving car brought back memories of road trips with Eva and Alexis. Charlie blinked several times as he dispelled the dreamlike recollections of midnight decisions to visit some historical site, obscure museum or attend a concert, Eva’s voice clear as the sunlight streaming in the windshield, “Come on, baby, it’ll be fun – you like fun.”

Ian’s attention was drawn from the road to the waking mathematician when Charlie murmured a response.

“I do like fun, but how are you so sure this will be fun.”

“Charlie?”

Charlie shook his head. “Ian...sorry, I…wait, where are we going?”

“To the range.”

“You want me to do some analysis for you?”

“No, I want you to learn how to use everything in my arsenal.”

Charlie looked at the back seat. The car seat was empty. “Ian, as much as I am glad that you are not taking Isaac to the range with us…where is he?”

“At home with Don and Cooper.”

Charlie relaxed, slightly. “I don’t like guns very much.”

Ian nodded. “I know, but I want you to know how to use them, for your sake and Isaac’s…if I’m not there and something happens…”

Charlie calculated. “Does it have to be all the guns?”

Ian contemplated this for a moment. “Well, I suppose we could focus on handguns to start… I do have certain firearms that you would only use in extreme circumstances.”

Charlie looked at Ian a long moment. “You are really afraid of something happening to me and Isaac.”

Ian focused on the road. “Charlie, you are the candle that guides me away from the darkness within my own soul. I know what I am capable of Charlie. I do not think anyone is ready for what I would do if you and Isaac were taken from me, especially when I can give you skills that would make that far more difficult than it was for Penfield.”

Charlie watched the passing scenery. “You want me to carry a gun with me all the time?”

“At the moment you are on sabbatical, we can discuss the logistics about carrying a gun on campus, at conferences…perhaps Don, Cooper and I could give you some training in hand to hand combat.”

Charlie chewed his lower lip. Eva had owned guns and knew how to use them. She kept one in the top drawer of her desk and one is a safe beneath her bedside table and one in a safe behind a painting in the front hall. Tears started to well up in his eyes as he wondered if these precautions would have saved her and Alexis if Alexis’ father had attacked them at home. He wondered if Alexis’ father knew about Isaac. Statistics of home invasions versus gun accidents scrolled through his brain, hate crimes, kidnappings, Penfield, Frank.

Tony had filed the appropriate papers to transfer the ownership of Eva’s guns into his name, Charlie had even filled out the registration forms, mostly because he didn’t want to get rid of anything that was important to Eva and having the guns without the right paperwork was not good when your brother and his lover and your lover were all in the FBI.

All of Eva’s guns were the same type.

Charlie cleared his throat. “Do you have a smith and Wesson, dual action 22 caliber revolver?”

Ian almost swerved off the road. Those words sounded far too unexpectedly sexy falling from the lips of the mathematician. He took a calming breath. “Yes, I do.”

Charlie nodded. “That is the kind that is registered in my name. That is the only one I want to learn how to use.”

Ian decided he would ask why Charlie owned guns when he did not like them, later. It was a start.


	4. Necessary Knowledge, Part IV

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ian begins to train Charlie.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Conference Wives

Title: Necessary Knowledge, Part IV  
Characters: Charlie/Ian  
Words: 374  
Disclaimer: If you recognize it, it’s not mine  
Summary: Ian begins to train Charlie.  
Note: Conference Wives  
Dedication: to starfevre, who is too sweet for words.

Ian chose a secluded section of the outdoor range, away from the rifle bays, the skeet shooting and the members’ clubhouse. He drove past an unused archery practice site and then to an isolated set up almost completely surrounded by woods. Thus he would be able to teach Charlie without shouting over the noise of several guns being fired at once or in succession. He could also set up combat style drills and get Charlie comfortable with the gun without building in a flinch due to anticipation of the sound or the kickback.

The revolver only had eight pounds of recoil when the hammer was in place and the dual action works would help Charlie feel the mechanical process inside the gun as it was preparing to fire, all things the mathematician could calculate and focus on to help him understand the weapon and the importance of knowing how to use it.

All of Ian’s guns were recently cleaned and very well maintained. He walked Charlie through basic gun safety and how to load and unload the revolver several times.

He explained sight picture and how to stand, how to hold the revolver. He let Charlie dry fire the weapon until he was comfortable with the grip, the weight, and trigger squeeze with his left hand, right hand and both hands.

He walked Charlie through simple drills, one to the head, two to the chest, one to the hip, again.

As an instructor he had dealt with students of various skill and interest levels.

Charlie was settling into the lessons with grim determination and Ian found it difficult to focus.

One, because Charlie using a gun was very sexy, two, the smell of cordite in Charlie’s hair was enough to destroy Ian’s legendary self control and three, Charlie looked far too adorable for words with small streaks of gun oil on his nose and forehead.

After one hundred rounds and a sixty-five percent hit rate, Ian told Charlie they would take a break. Charlie released the chamber and placed the gun in its section of the open gun case in the trunk of the car.

Ian swept Charlie into his arms and indulged in a series of long, deep, kisses against the bullet-ridden backstop.


End file.
